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Air Force NCO Sentenced to 120 years in Prison for Sexually Exploiting Toddlers and Children to Produce Child Pornography

Earlier today, William S. Gazafi, age 44, of Lusby, Maryland, was sentenced to 120 years in prison, for six counts of sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland, Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the FBI and Brigadier General Kevin J. Jacobsen, Commander of Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus of the District of Maryland.

According to the indictment, court documents and statements made at his plea hearing, on August 15, 2013, Gazafi engaged in a chat with an undercover officer on a website dedicated to incest discussions. During the chat, Gazafi discussed his sexual interest in children and advised that he had been drugging and molesting several children, including an infant. During the chat, Gazafi sent seven images to the undercover officer, three of which were child pornography Gazafi stated he produced after drugging the child. Gazafi was subsequently identified and arrested.

At the time of his arrest, Gazafi was carrying multiple digital media items. A forensic examination of those items, and others seized from his residence, revealed videos and images that Gazafi produced of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including one child as young as five months old. The images also depict children bound and handcuffed while sleeping. In addition to producing hundreds of images of five children, ranging in age from five months to seven years, Gazafi distributed the images he produced to others on the Internet. Gazafi was communicating with other child pornography producers, some of whom sent him images of children they were abusing. Thus far, three children have been identified as a result. Gazafi possessed over 15,000 images and videos of children being sexually abused, many of toddler and infant age. At the time of his arrest, Gazafi was a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force working at Andrews Air Force Base.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc . For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan of the District of Maryland.